Interlocking Container

ABSTRACT

Certain embodiments are directed to an interlocking container having a top that is complementary with the bottom and incorporating a locking mechanism to reversibly interlock two containers.

BACKGROUND

Containers of liquids present a challenge to packers, shippers, distributors, retailers, bartenders, and restaurateurs. Often bottles are shipped in cartons with cardboard dividers between containers to keep them from colliding and possible breaking Wooden crates have been used with retainers to constrain movement of the containers, such as found in old soft drink case designs. Many of the solutions add increased cost for shipping and packing materials.

Furthermore, a variety of containers are not designed to stack in a stable manner or to be carried three, four, five, or more at time without inconvenience. Typically, wait staff and stockers would need a tray, box, or other assistance to carry multiple containers safely and securely.

There remains a need for a container that can be packed and handled efficiently and safely.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are directed to interlocking containers designed to optimize stacking, packing, and/or stability of containers. In certain aspects the container is a bottle or vessel for contain liquid or pourable material, e.g., gels or powders or granular material. A container can be, but not limited to, metal, glass, polymer, or combination thereof.

Certain embodiments are directed to an interlocking container comprising (a) a top having a neck and at least one snapping mechanism formed in or locking tab protruding from the neck; (b) a body; (c) a bottom having a recessed portion configured to receive the neck of a second container, wherein the recessed portion forms (i) a complementary structure to complete a locking mechanism or (ii) a notch for insertion of the locking tab and a locking groove through which the tab can move from an unlocked to a locked position. In certain aspects the neck can have 2, 3, 4, 5, or more neck tabs, grooves, or ridges. In other aspects, the body can be substantially cylindrical, square, or polygonal. The term substantial is used to indicate that the shape need not be exact, e.g., substantially cylindrical refers to curved body having allowances for the convex and concave shaping to form mated or nested container pairs, and substantially square indicates that the shape need not be a prefect square and can contain rounded edges and allow for the convex and concave shaping to form a mated or nested container pair. In certain aspects the container is designed so that not only one container pair mate, but an array of containers can be arranged so that all four sides of the container are in contact or are mated with adjacent containers. The inventor contemplates that the containers can be arranged in multiple layers with each layer interlocked with a second layer below and the containers contacted or mated on all four sides with adjacent containers. The containers can be arranged to form 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or more layers having the option of being interlocked with a second adjacent layer.

The neck is positioned at the top of the container. The neck portion is shaped to complement a recess in the bottom of the container. The neck has one or more snapping mechanisms or locking tabs configured to interact with a mechanism of the bottom recess. In certain aspects a screw mechanism can be specifically excluded, i.e., a screw mechanism comprise a threaded neck and tapped base that requires numerous full turns to fully engage the association between top and bottom container. In certain aspects the top portion of the container is generally convex in shape and is configured to fit into and contact a bottom having a complementary shape, e.g., a concave shape. In certain aspects a cap can be used to seal the neck of the container. A cap includes, but is not limited to a threaded cap, plug, crown cork, flip cap, or sports cap.

The container is configured to mate with a second container when a first container and second container are positioned side by side. In certain aspects a first portion of the body is convex and a second portion positioned opposite of the convex first portion is concave, the convex first portion is configured to mate with the concave second side when two or more containers are position positioned side by side. The body can be shaped in a variety of ways as long as complementary surfaces can be aligned. In certain aspects all sides of the bottle are planar. In a further aspect opposites sides of the body comprise a shape other than a plane and are complementary to each other, e.g., convex/concave, wedge/triangle, semicircle/groove, etc.

In two interlocking containers, the bottom of the top container comprises an interlocking mechanism that interacts with the top of the bottom container. The bottom of the top container also contains a recess to complement the neck of the bottom container. In certain aspects the interlocking mechanism is a ridge designed to snap into a groove on the other container. Either the top or the bottom container of two interlocking containers can contain the flange or groove. On the bottom container of two interlocking containers, the flange or groove can be part of the lid or part of the body. On the top container of two interlocking containers, the ridge or groove can be in the recess at the bottom of the container or part of the body along the bottom edge. The ridge and/or groove can be a continuous circle around the container or can have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 segments where the ridge and/or groove are present.

In certain aspects the interlocking mechanism comprises a recess configured to receive the one or more tabs of the neck through a notch or ridge formed in the bottom. The notch provides access to a groove formed in the bottom or the groove can be closed groove. In certain aspects the tab can directly access the groove and thus be a notchless configuration. The groove provides for the securing of a locking tab from a second container so that the containers are securely associated. Thus in one embodiment the neck of first container with the locking tab aligned with either a notch or the opening of a groove is inserted in a second container while pushing or twisting the first, second, or both containers to advance the tab deeper in the groove to a locked position. In certain aspects the first and second container can be aligned at a 1, 20, 40, 60, 80, 90, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300, 320, 340 degree angle relative to the short axis of the containers, i.e., the axis perpendicular to the common axis of the two containers, in an unlocked position. In a locked position the long axis and short axis of the containers are aligned.

In certain aspects the interlocking mechanism is 1, 2, or 3 tabs attached to the outer edge of the top of the body. The tab or tabs slide into slots in the bottom of the interlocking container. To release interlocked containers, the tab is pushed and the bottom container is separated from the top container.

In certain aspects a first container can be placed in a locked position with respect to a second container. The term “locked” or “interlocked” refers to an association of containers that requires effort to separate, such as pulling the containers apart, twisting two containers with respect to one another, or pushing a tab or tabs to release a container. In certain aspects 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more containers can be positioned top to bottom, with each pair of containers being in an optional locked position relative to each other. A top to bottom arrangement of containers forms a “container column.” A container column can have 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more containers. Containers placed and optionally mated or nested side by side form a row of containers. The term mated or nested refers to the interaction of complementary shapes, thus the mating of two surfaces does not necessarily require any interlocking mechanism or design, but may include such. In certain aspects an interlocking mating or nesting configuration can be specifically excluded. A row of containers can have 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more containers. Two or more columns arranged in rows form a “container stack.” A container stack can be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more containers wide by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more containers long by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more containers deep. In one aspect a handle can be removably attached to a container stack. In certain aspects the handle can comprise of two attachments connected by a handle, the attachments can be configured to connect to the neck of a first container and second container of a container stack so that the container stack can be lifted and/or carried by the handle. In one aspect the attachment can be configured to securely attach to one container and have a handle for carrying. In certain aspects the attachments wrap around the neck or the neck is inserted in a hole formed by the attachment.

Certain embodiments are directed to the design of the container. Other embodiments are directed to structures comprising an arrangement of a plurality of containers. Embodiments include packages and packing containers housing arrangements of the containers.

Other embodiments of the invention are discussed throughout this application. Any embodiment discussed with respect to one aspect of the invention applies to other aspects of the invention as well and vice versa. Each embodiment described herein is understood to be embodiments of the invention that are applicable to all aspects of the invention. It is contemplated that any embodiment discussed herein can be implemented with respect to any device or composition of the invention, and vice versa.

The use of the word “a” or “an” when used in conjunction with the term “comprising” in the claims and/or the specification may mean “one,” but it is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more,” “at least one,” and “one or more than one.”

Throughout this application, the term “about” is used to indicate that a value includes the standard deviation of error for the device or method being employed to determine the value.

The use of the term “or” in the claims is used to mean “and/or” unless explicitly indicated to refer to alternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive, although the disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternatives and “and/or.”

As used in this specification and claim(s), the words “comprising” (and any form of comprising, such as “comprise” and “comprises”), “having” (and any form of having, such as “have” and “has”), “including” (and any form of including, such as “includes” and “include”) or “containing” (and any form of containing, such as “contains” and “contain”) are inclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating specific embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the detailed description of the specification embodiments presented herein.

FIG. 1. Illustrates two perspectives of an example container.

FIG. 2 Illustrates multiple perspectives and a cross section of an example container.

FIG. 3 Illustrates multiple perspectives and cross sections of two sample containers in a locked and unlocked position.

FIG. 4 Illustrates multiple perspectives of the bottom locking mechanism.

FIG. 5 Illustrates the interaction of a container with a bottom locking mechanism.

FIG. 6 Illustrates a column arrangement and a stack arrangement of containers.

FIG. 7 Illustrates a first embodiment of a snapping mechanism.

FIG. 8 Illustrates a second embodiment of a snapping mechanism.

FIG. 9 Illustrates a third embodiment of a snapping mechanism.

FIG. 10 Illustrates a fourth embodiment of a snapping mechanism.

FIG. 11 Illustrates a fifth embodiment of a snapping mechanism.

DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an interlocking container design. Container 10 comprises top 15, body 20, and bottom 25. Top 15 comprises shoulder 18 and neck 19. Top 15 is configured to complement a recess in bottom 25. Neck 19 has locking tab 16. In one aspect locking tab 16 is configured to interact with a locking mechanism positioned on bottom 25. The locking mechanism on bottom 25 can be a groove having a notch to receive the locking tab or can be closed groove that is configured to snap over locking tab(s) 16. In certain aspects locking tab 16 is incorporated into the cap 17. Cap 17 is configured to close the container. The opening of neck 19 can be configured to accommodate various container closing mechanisms, such as threaded cap, plug, crown cork, flip cap, or sports cap. Bottom 25 is configured to complement and receive top 15. Bottom 25 comprises a locking mechanism. In one embodiment notch 26 is formed in the recess portion of bottom 25. Notch 26 is in communication with locking groove 27. In certain aspects locking groove 27 is a closed groove and is configured to snap over locking tab 16. In certain embodiments notch 26 and locking groove 27 are configured to secure locking tab 16. Locking tab 16 can be inserted in notch 26 and moved along groove 27 until it reaches a locking position. In certain aspects the locking position is define by locking tab 16 entering receiving notch 28. Locking tab 16 is to remain in receiving notch 28 until sufficient force is applied to move locking tab 16 back along locking groove 27 to notch 26, where the containers can then be separated. In other aspects locking tab 16 is to remain in a closed locking groove 27 until such force is applied to unsnap the locking tab 16 from locking groove 27.

FIG. 2 shows a front, side, and cross-section of an example container standing. Cross-section A-A illustrates the configuration of a locking mechanism (notch 26 in locking groove 27) within the recess of bottom 25.

FIG. 3 shows two example containers in unlocked (left) and locked (right) position as well as cross-section B-B and C-C that detail the position of the components in the locking mechanism. Cross-section B-B is associated with two example containers in an unlocked position. Cross-section C-C is associated with two example containers in a locked position with the top container being turned 90 degrees to the locked position. The top container is depicted having one flat face of body 20 of the top container and a concave face of body 20 of the bottom container facing the viewer. Cross-section B-B and C-C shows the transition of locking tab 16 of the bottom container by a 90 degree rotation relative to the locking mechanism of the top container when moving from the unlocked to locked configuration. The right side of FIG. 3 shows two containers in a locked configuration with body 20 of the top container aligned with body 20 of the bottom container.

FIG. 4 shows various perspectives of the locking mechanism. An example of the locking mechanism is illustrated as locking ring 30. Notch 26 is formed in the inner aspect of the locking ring. Notch 26 is in communication with groove 27 formed in the locking ring. The end of groove 27 distal from notch 26 can be configured to form receiving notch 28. Such a locking ring can be molded during production of the container or the locking ring can be manufactured separately, inserted into the recess, and fixed in place so that it does not rotate.

FIG. 5 provides an illustration of a container 10 and locking ring 30. Notch 26 of locking ring 30 is aligned with locking tab 16 of the container. Once locking tab 16 is in position it is moved along groove 27 to lock the container in place relative to locking ring 30.

FIG. 6 shows a column of two containers and an arrangement of 48 containers into 6×4×2 container stack.

FIG. 7 shows one embodiment of a snapping mechanism for reversibly connecting two bottles. Neck 719 forms a groove that is configured to mate with a ridge formed in bottom 725. The neck of the lower bottle is configured to snap into the bottom recess of the top bottle. FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of a snapping mechanism such that neck 819 forms a ridge that is configured to interact with a groove formed in bottom 825.

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment where the snapping mechanism is formed on the circumference of body 920. A lip and groove are formed on top 915 on an extension of body 920 with a complementary surface formed in bottom 925 to receive and snap together. The lip and groove need not completely encircle the bottle and take the form of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more tabs position around the top circumference of body 920. In certain aspects the lip and groove can be position at any position along the edge of top 915 and need not be position along the circumference in all embodiments. A complement to the lip and groove will be present in a location such that the top bottle and bottom bottle can be reversibly attached. FIG. 10 shows an alternative embodiment of the lip and groove where the lip formed on the top of the bottom bottle comprises a ridge and the recess on the top bottle forms the groove configured to receive the ridge.

FIG. 11 shows a pin and hole design where lip formed on the bottom bottle forms a pin that can be reversibly inserted in a hole present in a receiving groove on the top bottle. The pin can be circular or oval with a corresponding hole in the bottom of the other bottle. In certain aspects the pin and hole can be reversed in that the pin can be formed in the bottom of the bottle and the hole formed in the top. In certain aspects there can be 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, or more pin and hole mechanisms incorporated into the bottle design. 

1. An interlocking container comprising: (a) a neck having an interlocking mechanism; (b) a body; (c) a bottom having a recessed portion configured to receive the neck of a second container, wherein the bottom portion contains the complementary part of the interlocking mechanism.
 2. The container of claim 1, wherein the interlocking mechanism is at least one flange present on the top or bottom of a container that snaps into at least one groove present on the bottom or top, respectively, of the complementary container.
 3. The container of claim 1, wherein the interlocking mechanism is at least one tab present on the top of a container that slides into at least one groove in the bottom of another container and is locked by twisting one container with respect to the other.
 4. The container of claim 1, wherein the interlocking mechanism is at least one tab present on the top of a container which inserts into at least one slot on the bottom of another container.
 5. The container of claim 1, wherein the container is configured to mate with a second container positioned side by side and in contact with the container.
 6. The container of claim 5, wherein a first portion of the body is convex and a second portion positioned opposite of the convex first portion is concave, the convex first portion is configured to mate with the concave second side when two or more containers are position positioned side by side.
 7. A column of containers comprising two or more containers of claim 1 positioned top to bottom.
 8. A stack of containers comprising two or more container columns of claim 4 arranged in an array.
 9. An interlocking container comprising: (a) a neck having at least one locking tab; (b) a body; (c) a bottom having a recessed portion configured to receive the neck of a second container, wherein the recessed portion forms (i) a notch for insertion of the locking tab and (ii) a locking groove through which the locking tab can move from an unlocked to a locked position.
 10. The container of claim 9, wherein the container is configured to mate with a second container positioned side by side and in contact with the container.
 11. The container of claim 10, wherein a first portion of the body is convex and a second portion positioned opposite of the convex first portion is concave, the convex first portion is configured to mate with the concave second side when two or more containers are position positioned side by side.
 12. A column of containers comprising two or more containers of claim 9 positioned top to bottom.
 13. A stack of containers comprising two or more container columns of claim 12 arranged in an array. 